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Pitching to Nicole Stevenson from Craftcation

now I would like to bring up Nicole. Welcome. Hi, Tiffany. Hi, everybody. So the coal is You have a very long list of things. You are. It's really fun and like, very inspiring. And I don't quite know how you managed to do it all, but let's feel the same way about you there, Ugo. How do you have twins and do all the things that you do on top of that e Don't know, But I figured out how a brother So Nicole is a writer and illustrator, a maker. She has a creative live class she to create a business consultant. She's a co founder of Patchwork is a cracked show craft handmade show. Modern Makers Festival is the official title a modern makers festival and the founder of, um, crap vacation, which is a conference for makers and creative entrepreneurs. She gets bitches. Do you think you get a minute e Was any your hundreds? I mean hundreds, but I also send a lot of pitches to, so I mean kind of both sides. And so when you were mentioning earlier about learning from what you're doing, I totally t...

ook that to heart, not only learning from my own pitches, but learning when people are pitching me. Oh, I better not make this mistake when I'm pitching someone else. Yeah, that's great. And I have actually pitched Nicole just part of why I wanted to have her here. What? I say first homeless fits me. So, Nicole, it's been on my podcast. But I wanted to take it back until the story about my first time speaking accreditation and how that came about to tell the story here of how to build on an in person relationship to then get something from it, right? And so I'm curious how much of this you remember. Oh, well, we will see. Yeah. So this is my timeline to craft occasion, and I'm gonna ask you as we go through you. What if you remember anything about that or anything Stands out. Um, so the first thing I attended the inaugural craft cation, which was in 2011 2012. Yeah. 2011 3 11 And I just went as a participant. Um, and I while I was there, I was like, I want to do this Like I was saying to people speak and I was like I want to do. That's like I didn't know I wanted to speak. I didn't know I wanted to come up to creativelive and teach, but I was like, Yeah, this looks fun how to do this? Why not me? Right. So I was like, I want to speak next year. This is what I'm telling myself in my head. And I think you guys would probably have this experience, right? You go. And you're like, I want to do this. So here's what I did there. I didn't go and say hi. I'm Chip now on the speaking circuit right now. I didn't go in for that. I mean, people might do that. People do that all the time. Yeah. Does it work? Um, that pretty much never works. So at our craft show, I get that a lot, so people will come up. Hey, I make baby bonnets And here six of my baby bonnets and they're not even noticing that I'm sweating. I am carrying trash that I'm emptying. I have a walkie talkie going off in this hand in my cell phone's ringing in the other hand, and they just start going and you know Of course, you're nice Two people. But I see you know, this isn't the best time. And I always have a card handy. You know, here's my card. Feel feel free to email, but it's kind of shocking. I think maybe sometimes we get in that mode where we're so focused on our pitch and like building up our confidence and our courage and our motivation to actually open that door and take that step that we don't read the other person that we're talking to to see if they're in a receptive place or not. It's not about you, right? Yeah. Yeah. So here's what I did a crap vacation. I went upto Colin. Delilah. I introduced myself and I said, Thank you. I said, I really got a lot out of this. I've really enjoyed it. I can't wait to come back. Here's what I dio remember that, actually, maybe the goose bumps, but I mean, that is Yeah. Yeah. And just like being gracious for for being there. Yeah, It was just an actual connection. I wasn't feeling legit. I was like, Who by now? Little when I say thank you, Right. Same thing. He was great. Everybody wants to be thanked. Rumors here, they're gonna get jobs. And thanks. You're doing a great job. High five. If someone can take out a five, if you're for that. While I was there, I took note of the vibe imprisoned her styles, you know, every every event, everything, every publication. Every client has a different feel. So I noted that What's what's the vibe? It's not a buttoned up business copy by rank suits. That would be weird. Yeah, I know. It's a big there's cocktails. It's fun. It's, you know, it's it's really energetic. Sounds like I fit here. And then I wasn't a jerk. That's all I did. I didn't say I'm going to email you next week, which you can dio, but I didn't I didn't do that. I just sort of like drop the seeds in the ground and I take you know, if you've grown something from Caesar, takes a while to see the fruits of your labor. Uh, but you made you made a really good first impression, and I think that that's one of the points. Here's Tiffany's talking about building a relationship, you know, you would never go up well I guess some people would go to a stranger and ask for a dollar, but it actually happened to me outside of craft outside of creative life the last time I was here. If you do that, you got to do it. Well, yeah, but, I mean, you don't just walk up to somebody and ask them for something. So you started that relationship and you started it slowly but authentically. Yeah, that day. And I remember who you were, so I made a good impression on I was authentic and enthusiastic, right? I wasn't, like, trying to be like, Hey, can I get something from you? If you're If you're sharing something that you genuinely feel it will come across is authentic, right? And you guys are all lovely people. So let's take that concern out. Because you've got other things to worry about, right? Spell check processing spelled are able. So then I ran into them. This was in April, March or April of 2011. No, this was in 2012. And then I ran into you guys in the following year. January? Yeah. Yeah, almost a year. Yeah. I had not followed up about speaking accreditation I hadn't gotten. You know, if you do this, get on the email list for the conference, right? Like, go and figure out when they're going to do the call. Like make a list. We're gonna be putting together your pitch plan later. These are all things to pay attention to. I did not. And I'm fine. It's fine. Um, I ran the colon. Delilah were at another conference that I was at. So I remember this so clearly. I just decided I was gonna get rejected. I'm gonna get a rejection letter. Were at the bar. I was late. I feel like it was like, 11 12 o'clock at night. They were sitting on the floor. Thanks. I went up to them and just sat down on the floor next to them. I want those seats at the bar, which is why way don't just hang out. That's not just happen to be a very crowded bar. All the conference people were so it wasn't like a gross floor. Lovely way. Want, like, sit on peanut shells. You know, I went out and sat down and said, Remember the great conversation Starter High? I said, Hi. We shot every hug. I think that I said, like so I want to speak. And it wasn't like, Can you tell me what I could do to be a speaker at your conference? It was a genuine like I I didn't also walk up and be like, Hi. I was, you know, remember me? I wasn't weird or needy about it. It's just like we had re established a relationship that I was like, I think it was kind of charming. You were You were terming and the way she first approached me at this, You know, second conference was we're best friends, you know? She came up like, Hey, Nicola. Delilah houses going. It's so good to see you guys. I didn't know you guys were gonna be here. How is it going? House provocation planning. Asked about us and, like, what was going on with us. And you made it about us? Yeah. And then you just hung out. Yeah. If you want someone to remember, you have the energy, right? It wasn't like Aw, shucks. Do you guys remember me? I was just like, Hey, here we go. Where? We're old friends and she could have not remember me that like again? I was kind of charming, and she got in, like, I wouldn't know this person, But I trusted I had that crazy faith that, like driving trust that this was gonna come together. Worst case scenario, she would say, No, I would buy another ticket to the conference. Let's see her again in April and may be it would happen for the next year. Yeah, so you know, it's not a no is not the end of the world. We're gonna talk more about that. I plan to the follow up seat. And when we when we broke away from each other on the floor of that bar in Utah, I said, Great, I'm gonna you know, she said, she said, again, I remember this so clearly. She said, I'm not sure we're already putting together a schedule, because I This is slacker. And she said, I'm going to check and see if we have room email me next week. So I said, Okay, I'll you know you next week. Oh, and then I was not a jerk. So then I e mailed her the next week and what did I do? A captain short and sweet kept it relevant and specific. I said, thank you. I acknowledge that she may not have room for me, and I was not a jerk. This is an email that I sent. This is me speaking aircraft cation. My first legit. Like Kanye speaking gig and, like, a kind of it was your first speaking. Yeah, I didn't tell her that. She was very She was very confident. And so where I didn't even ask. Where have you spoken before? I wasn't, like, don't tell people that if you don't have the experience, don't Don't give it away. Way for the mask. By the way, Now we do ask people because of the right things air a little more regulated, then they then they were also, if you okay, this is a great point, because if you want us wanna start doing speaking and you're not sure where to start, start with something that small and knew where you have a personal connection and work that because they're getting more buttoned up. But I could probably can I come speak next like it's now we have the relationship, and then you can leverage that experience to get other things. See how that all works. I didn't manipulate her into giving it to me. I delivered like I showed up because I show up because the quality of what I'm gonna deliver is there. So if that if I hadn't shoot, wouldn't be here right now, would be awkward. So here's the email I said. I said I sent it one week later. Hey, Nicole, it was so good to spend so much time with you. And Lila told slowly finding my way back into normal life while questioning what normal really is. After all, probably you are feeling that a little, too, because you go to these conferences and your like are right. It's relatable. I also wanted to follow up about speaking of provocation. If you guys have any holes in your schedule, definitely, definitely let me know. I would love to be there a few things I could speak on same social media use. I'm also teaching a social media sanity for creative live tomorrow so you guys should tune in, um, knowing when to move on, making rejection your friend and how to craft a post cracked ation plan, which is what that photo was from. Let me know if you need more DEETs at giant hugs and kisses to you with two exclamation points and I got she said yes. So what What worked about this? Um, when you and it's been four years. Yes, I've read this. I actually tried to look for it in my inbox, but it was so old that it wasn't even there anymore. Um, one of the one of the things is the tone of the email. So she she she had been to craft cation before, So she had hung out. Seen what are conferences like, professionally. But she had also hung out with us personally. And But even if she hadn't, she would have known just from going to provocation the tone and how to speak to us. So if this email had been, it was wonderful spending time with, you know, till I really enjoyed when you spoke about getting conversation. Yeah, and, uh, you know, But this emails very professional. Give me all the pertinent information that I need, but it's conversational, which, which makes me know that she's researched our business. She's paying attention to that, and she would represent our conversational tone well to our attendees speak well of your audience. You know that her easy, yes, is you're gonna make my life easy. You're not gonna be sloppy, but also that people are gonna walk away from engaging with you. One having gotten value and wanting more. Yeah. Ah! Oh. The other thing that I really liked was that she named off classes that she could teach. You know, like, here are three things and one of them was very specific just to craft cation like post craft craft cation plan. And it was very obvious to me that she because our schedule was already up at this point, and it was very obvious to me that she had seen what was on our schedule and look for things that weren't already there. So that made it very, very easy for me. Yeah, it was a mutual value exchange. I want to speak in your conference, but I'm gonna help craft something that you know he hasn't been spoken to. I had never taught these before. Okay, I just want to point that out not to say, like, do some, do something crazy and be sloppy, but to say like I told her I was gonna emailer, So I figured it out and I taught two classes, and I would say that the second class I taught the traffic ation successful and changed my game. My game changed my business game because I realized that me standing in front of a group of people and getting them fired up is like my thing. And I also still hear from people who were in that session in her leg. Oh, my God, Yeah, We wanted her to bring that class back every year. And I will say that, um, Tiffany people fill out a survey afterwards. And Tiffany was one of our most complimented presenters. And now, knowing that was her first time ever ever presenting, I think that's awesome. But she knew that she knew that she could do it. Another. The length of that email is just perfect. Yeah, and it's not just me because I get so many pitches. We all get tons of emails, and we all have. We all would rather be doing anything besides answering emails. So doesn't matter if you're setting an email to your mom or your pitching something, keep it short even. Sure, keep it really short. So that's a really life example. And you know, Natalia, your question about the little did. I didn't feel legit. I felt like, Ah, hot mess. Whose leg? What? And I figured it out. Right. So I really like to plant those seeds. And then you have to show hope and deliver to me like there's nothing really more powerful than somebody else expecting something from me And you delivered that she delivered so well and and trust. You know, your thing may not be speaking at a conference. You're a textile designer. I would not deliver. Well, if I was trying to make fabric, it would be a whole Right. So I know what you're good at, you know, And I know I knew that I had this, like, crazy. They that, like, I think I want to do that. And here we are. Then you do. And I did So So, Nicole, I want to talk to you because you get pit so much and we're gonna go through in a minute. Some examples of actual pitches we both have gotten. Um What? What do you look for in general? What makes a pitch strong? Well, some of the things that we talked about already and that I know that you've mentioned the link. So which I just mentioned. But I just can't hammer that Hammer that home enough. Um, you just don't need to know that information that much information right off the bat. So But you need to know enough to make an informed decision. So I think it's finding that balance between not enough information and too much information. Uh, I come from a writing background way back, and one of the things that we talk about about editing is every sentence. Take out one word and every paragraph, take out one sentence and every page take out one paragraph. So I mean, I definitely wouldn't say, like, follow that rule, you know, completely. But just think about that. Think about what you can take out and still have give them enough information. Um, another way to think about that editing is like, what's the simplest way I can see those? So not I have enjoyed the merits of your podcast that it's like I love your podcast, period, right? Yeah, Well, okay. What you just said just brought up one of my other point. So I love your podcast, period. And then my next sentence, if I were pitching, would be or comma, especially last week's episode with Andre. I loved how you said you should build your own community. Just you know, that really shows because anybody can say I love your podcast. But that shows Hey, I'm listening to it and I'm listening to it now. I'm current. I'm up on what you're doing right now. I think that is super important. Huge as someone who gets pitched a lot for a podcast, I'm about to make a form on my website where one of the required questions is What's your favorite episode and why? Yes, because you don't have to listen all of them, right? But I want to know that you put the you're gonna show up for my audience because my, my um, what's that word? My like affinity is to my audience. And if I start messing around the bringing on boring people, my audience is gonna bail because she know what? There are a lot of other podcast out there that you guys can listen. Dio Nichols and Nicole has been on my podcast and I've been on There's mutual value exchange. You guys see how that works? And we're friends, Right? So Okay, um, what's going down the wrong way? Uh, so length for sure. Either way, um and we're going to see that in the examples that we talk about, especially we're talking about going shore, but we can see where short we're gonna look at where short is gonna be a problem. Ah, for grammar and spelling. And I'm definitely need a grammar police person on my shoulder at all times, but I don't have one, so I make mistakes like that. But before I send a pitch email I read it a minimum of three times. I read it twice. Quietly, I and I read it once out loud, even if it's something where I'm, like copying and pasting it, you know? And if I'm setting, it's a multiple people, but that's really important. And I still find mistakes all the time. Yeah. I mean, be careful. Be thoughtful if you You know, if you send an I t. Apostrophe s and it should be, I ts don't kill yourself for all human beings. It's gonna happen. And part of what makes in terms of Nicole's business. In my business, we want to be relatable. I'm not trying to be that buttoned up business consultant. That's not who I am. So yeah, sometimes when these letters have typos when I read of it, I'm like, except, you know, and like can don't let it kill you, But learn from it. Yeah, you do. You just do your best. I caught a your in your which is my number one like grammar hatred thing on an email that I sent to somebody else. Because I do that dumb thing of after a Sunday, which I'm sure Tiffany tells you not to dio going and reading it because I'll get that weirdo CD like today. Did I? Did I address it to the right person's name, you know, or something like that. And then I caught a your your eso so grammar. Uh, one of the things that I really like about that helps me say yes to a pitch is when somebody will note a relevant connection that we have. And we'll look at that in one of the examples. But it would be Casey. Hi. Good. Are you? If you were to email me and let's say that we didn't know each other or anything. And you were to email me and say that you were interested in speaking at craft cation and, uh and you were in Tiffany's creative live audience. And, uh, you know, Tiffany is a previous presenter there, and she suggested you That's awesome, because that shows me that somebody that knows what we're looking for thought that you would be the right person for it. Don't take that. Don't make it out. Don't like, drop a name if it's not true Because if Nicole comes to me and is like so I heard from Casey first be and I'm like and I do actually go. We have one presenter that specifically I have a phone call with every year when I I'm going through my speakers. Listen, I go through all of them with with her because I know that she knows everybody. You know What if anybody mentions her and I and the same way? If if I would say to the other person, is it okay if I mentioned that I know you? You know? So you would say Tiffany, is it okay that I, you know, say the this is this is gold. So, Casey, emails. May I know Casey? Casey Mills. Man is like, Is it OK if I mentioned that I know you to crack cation? You know, what I'm very likely to say is yeah, actually, let me email on introduction. Always great. And so asking, saying it out loud is gonna get that right. So So don't be afraid to ask. There are a couple of you guys listening and maybe some of you who want to apply to be in nickels show patchwork for those of you in the audience. If you don't have a chance to talk with her before she has to head home, you better email her next week, and it better be good. And tomorrow mentioned, Nicole's really good with email. You better mention that you took this class and you saw her and tell her why she rocked your world. So you on that same thing, that so we're talking about a relevant connection. So not name dropping is the other one and not a grandiose list of Oh, I know Tiffany and Kerry and Keith E. And Andre and Natalia and all of these different people just pick out the two or three things that you think are gonna be the biggest, the biggest, the most powerful, right? Like my podcast pitch. I changed the names. Like what's gonna be most impressive to this person who I'm asking and for that I don't need to ask, Can I share because they're on my podcast list? It's just past guests, so yeah. Ah, a couple more One is that it's addressed to me by name. So it's very easy to find my to find out what my name is. And, uh, still how I get a lot of pitches that are just addressed. Hello, comma. So if you don't know somebody's name, I'm more than happy. I would much rather prefer that somebody wrote the cell. Hello, dear Handmade Life team, you know, because that at least shows me they know my business name. I don't know why they didn't go to the about page and find out my name, but kind of taking that extra step and and I one of the things that I do when I have two pitches I have Teoh find sponsors for our conference for craft cation So I am writing to people I have never met before and that I, you know, it's very hard to find the name of, let's say, the person that's in charge of sponsorships, that creative life, you know, it's not something that you can just Google. It requires a lot of research. But I spend that time and I don't email somebody until I find out their name, um, and try to spell it correctly. I know I talked a lot about that before, but it's it's huge, but name and spelling all right, You guys like, seriously, if you do that, you are above like 50% of the pitches.